The unsolved mystery of Mangala’s ‘Innocence’

Never shy of controversy, former Minister and United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera was to make headlines this week for his alleged involvement in the attack on a faction of the party staging a protest march demanding the ouster of party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.

An arrest warrant was issued for Samaraweera, for allegedly masterminding the attack at Matara, after which he surrendered to the Police on Tuesday and was later released on bail.  The MP is being charged with organising an illegal protest, inciting violence and also for the theft of two loudspeakers.

Samaraweera, an efficient politician but also an extremely polarising figure, is known to be a loyalist of Ranil Wickremesinghe. He bitterly opposes the Sajith Premadasa faction of the UNP who see him as an intruder who has his roots in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera, now fifty seven years old, hails from a political family. Mahanama Samaraweera, his father, was Minister of Local Government, Housing, Posts and Telecommunications in Sirima Bandaranaike’s government. Mother Khema was a member of the Matara Urban Council.

There are some parallels between the political careers of Mangala Samaraweera and his father: they both left the SLFP late in their political careers. Mahanama Samaraweera along with C.P. de Silva left the SLFP on the issue of the Press Takeover bill in 1964. However he did not join the UNP.

Instead, he then formed the Sri Lanka Socialist Freedom Party and contested the Matara seat under the symbol of the rising sun at the 1965 general elections-although it did enter into a ‘no-contest’ pact with the UNP. He lost to B.Y. Tudawe by some 900 votes. He passed away shortly afterwards.

Mangala Samaraweera’s entry into politics came twenty years later. He had just returned to Sri Lanka from England where he had completed a degree at London’s St. Martin’s School of Art. Harbouring no political ambitions, he was making a name for himself as ‘Mangala Innocence’, a fashion designer.   

Samaraweera was also a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies at the University of Kelaniya and quite intent on pursuing a career in fashion when his mother Khema introduced him to Sirima Bandaranaike who persuaded him to become the SLFP organiser for his father’s seat, Matara.

When he took up the post, the J. R. Jayewardene presidency was on its last legs. There were rebellions in the North and South, and Matara was bearing the brunt of the latter. Samaraweera was then instrumental in the formation of the ‘Mother’s Front’ protesting against the disappearances of youth.

It was also a time when the SLFP was having internal disputes. Ms. Bandaranaike was ailing and the battle for succession was on between her two children, Anura Bandaranaike and Chandrika Kumaratunga, for the party leadership. Samaraweera openly sided with Kumaratunga in this dispute.

Samaraweera first entered Parliament representing the Matara District at the 1989 general elections. He was one of only three SLFP members elected from the district and came second to Mahinda Wijesekera, polling nearly 12,000 preference votes to Wijesekera’s 18,000.



" Samaraweera was also a visiting lecturer at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies at the University of Kelaniya and quite intent on pursuing a career in fashion when his mother Khema introduced him to Sirima Bandaranaike "



Samaraweera’s loyalty to Kumaratunga was rewarded five years later when the People's Alliance emerged victorious at the elections. He was appointed as Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in Kumaratunga’s cabinet.

Following a Cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed as Minister of Urban Development, Construction and Public Utilities and was later given the Deputy Minister of Finance post. Moreover, he emerged as a key figure in the government and was known to be in Kumaratunga’s inner circle of advisors.

When the UNP briefly wrested control of Parliament, Samaraweera served as Chief Opposition Whip. When Kumaratunga regained control of the legislature three years later, Samaraweera was appointed as Minister of Ports, Aviation and Media and became the public face of the government.

Samaraweera was to have conflicts with Kumaratunga as well towards the latter days of her presidency, especially after he decided to endorse Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bid to contest the presidential election where Anura Bandaranaike was also known to be a contender.



" Some in the UNP argue that Samaraweera was a key architect of the UNP's defeat at the 2005 presidential elections "



In the 2005 presidential election Samaraweera played a crucial role as Rajapaksa’s campaign manager ironically portraying his present leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as being weak and incompetent and tagging him with the ‘Tiger’ labels because of the failed Ceasefire Agreement.

The ploy worked and Rajapaksa won the election narrowly. Samaraweera was rewarded with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a portfolio coveted by Anura Bandaranaike. However, being outspoken and at times critical of the President, his relationship with Rajapaksa was becoming strained.     
 
In January 2007, Samaraweera was replaced as Foreign Minister, but remained Minister of Ports and Aviation. Weeks later, he was sacked from the cabinet together with Ministers Anura Bandaranaike and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi. He then formed a new political party styled the SLFP (Mahajana) wing.

The fledgling party merged with the UNP in August 2010 and Samaraweera has remained a vociferous critic of the United People's Freedom Alliance government he was once part of, and of President Rajapaksa in particular, accusing him of being authoritarian.

His presence in the UNP has also angered the party’s local stalwarts in the Matara district. In the leadership stakes between Wickremesinghe and Premadasa he has been vocal in his support for the former while being bitterly critical of the latter.

Some harsh public comments by Sajith Premadasa recently were thought to be directed at Samaraweera. Samaraweera’s complicity in the Matara attack on the protest march remains the subject of a police investigation, especially after some marchers were themselves seen opening fire.

Some in the UNP argue that Samaraweera was a key architect of the UNP's defeat at the 2005 presidential elections and that he could revert to the SLFP, especially if the Kumaratunga faction were to re-emerge in that party. As such, they believe Wickremesinghe is naïve to trust him.

Even Samaraweera’s harshest critics concede that he has always been outspoken about his political views. He is also one of a handful of ministers to leave the Rajapaksa government when others are queuing to join it. Clearly, Mangala Samaraweera will be a name in the news in the weeks to come.